This invention relates generally to methods and systems for transmitting utility data to a utility provider. More specifically the invention relates methods and systems for transmitting utility data using a broadband modem and a service provider's access network.
Traditional utility meter reading has involved a utility company sending a technician out to a customer premises to visually read the utility meter. Radio frequency technology has made the process somewhat easier by allowing a technician to drive through a neighborhood with a radio receiver and gather utility meter readings that are transmitted over a radio frequency from the utility meter to the technician's receiver. Both of these techniques require substantial human interaction, resulting in increased cost and decreased convenience. Moreover, neither of these methods is amenable to real-time meter reading.
At the same time, technologies have developed to allow utility customers to monitor and manage different devices and appliances within their homes. However, these technologies currently are limited to individual users implementing their own Home Automated Networks using private Home Networking mechanisms such as X10, Z-Wave, and Zigbee. To date, however, such technologies have been implemented on an individual scale and cannot benefit from centralized monitoring and/or management capabilities; further, because there is no interface between such technologies and current information about utility rates, the potential benefits of such technologies have not been maximized.
There is thus a need for tools and techniques that allow utility providers to collect meter readings without a technician having to visit a customer premises. It would be advantageous, in some situations, for such tools and techniques to provide centralized monitoring, managing, and controlling of device usage in the home.